Strep Throat in Adults

Diagnosing Strep Throat

If you think you might have strep throat, you should visit your healthcare provider to find out for sure. To diagnose strep throat, your healthcare provider will do a throat swab, which takes a sample of fluids from the back of the throat. This sample will be used for a throat culture, or a rapid strep test. These tests look for signs of the bacteria that cause strep throat.

How Is Strep Throat in Adults Treated?

Strep throat is treated with antibiotics. Not only do they decrease the chances for complications (see Strep Throat Complications), but they also help decrease the severity and length of symptoms.

In most cases, penicillin is the typical antibiotic of choice for treating strep throat in adults. It is effective, safe, and inexpensive. Penicillin may be given as pills that are taken for 10 days, or in the form of a shot.

Penicillin V is the treatment of choice for strep throat. It is taken by mouth, either two or three times a day for 10 days. For adults, the standard dosage is 500 mg.

Within 24 hours of starting antibiotics, a person's temperature should drop. After two or three days, other symptoms of strep throat should start to improve.

As with all antibiotics, it is important to finish the prescription, even when you start to feel better. Stopping the treatment too early or skipping a dose could allow the bacteria to become resistant to the medication, which could allow the infection to spread. This may require longer treatment.

A person is no longer contagious after they have been on antibiotics for 24 hours.

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